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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMarch 28th, 2012
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) appointed Robert George, the National Organization for Marriage co-founder and former chairman, to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The appointment is for a two-year term.
In 2009, George drafted the Manhattan Declaration, which equates same-sex marriage to polygamy and calls for “resistance to the point of civil disobedience against any legislation that might implicate their churches or charities in abortion, embryo-destructive research or same-sex marriage.” In December of that year, George signed a letter which mildly criticized Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill (a.k.a. the “Kill the Gays” Bill) but tacitly approved jail terms for LGBT people. George also founded the American Principles Project, which, through it’s Preserve Innocence Project, declared that LGBT people and safe-school policies pose a threat to children. In 2010 George published the article “What Is Marriage?” in The Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, which BTB’s Rob Tisinai critiqued at length in a series of posts. You can access those critiques from this page.
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Priya Lynn
March 28th, 2012
It seems the anti-gay movement has made little use of George’s “What is marriage” article. At the time I thought it might be a little too abstract and convoluted to have much impact and that seems to be the case.
Lightning Baltimore
March 28th, 2012
A Christian extremist appointed to a commission for religious freedom? What next, a Grand Dragon for one for racial issues?
Gene in L.A.
March 28th, 2012
In the wake of the revelations only yesterday about NOM’s agenda of “driving a wedge between gays and blacks”, this is nothing less than a slap in the face of the gay community. Boehner has proved himself a proud bigot unworthy of holding public office.
Tom in Lazybrook
March 28th, 2012
So the Mr George wants to talk about persecution….
=====CATHOLIC PERSECUTION========
In the last three months..
1) The Bishop of Belize has gone onto the mass media of Belize to advocate criminalization of Gay persons. So much for freedom of expression.
2) The Catholic Archbishops Conference of Nigeria advocated in the mass media in Nigeria and the Vatican for legislation to jail persons witnessing a same sex marriage ceremony to 10 years in prison (aka, “jail the Episcopalians bill”), and mandates forming the Gay Discussion Group of Lagos result in 10 years in Nigerian prisons. So much for freedom of religion, press, association, and due process.
3) Cardinal Sarah of Guinea and Cardinal Turkson of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace have both condemened calls for an end to discrimination against Gays and have questioned whether Gay persons are human rights.
4) The spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Church in Albania, has issued a call for the first LGBT protest in Albania to be banned. So much for freedom of speech, protest, petition, and expression.
I could go on for days. Zambia’s Catholic represnetative on the Zambian “Christian” lobbying group also defended criminalization of Gay Persons. Catholic groups in India are agitating publically for the recriminalization of being Gay in India (as may well happen). In the USA, quasi-official-catholic groups like C-FAM (who has a Msgr. on their board) and Vatican UN Representative Abp. Tomassi has been leading the charge against any protections (even from violence) against Gay persons.
There is one Catholic Church. Not a separate one in the USA and in Nigeria. One Catechism. One doctrine.
So, I’d love to ask Robert George to opine on the impact of official statements of the Nigerian Roman Catholic Church regarding religious freedom. And to describe his opinon of the recent actions advocated by the Church in Nigeria, Albania, India, Zambia, Belize and at the UN on basic freedoms of speech, religion, press, petition, expression, association, and protest. And how that persecution compares to the persecution that the Catholic politicians in the USA are claiming against themselves.
Staggering hypocrisy by the Catholic Church. Advocating extreme persecution where they can ‘get away’ with it, claiming persecution in the USA without justification.
=======RUSSIAN ORTHODOX PERSECUTION====
As the Russian Orhodox Church yesterday posted a call for vigalantism and combat against peaceful LGBT protesters, how does that compare with the persecution that you are discussing.
=======ANGLICAN PERSECUTION==========
See Nigeria discussion above under Catholic. The Anglican Church of Nigeria also supports the same law. The Anglican Church of Nigeria has been pushing this type of law for the last 5 years. Why does throwing someone in jail for 14 years for the ‘crime’ of having a private marriage ceremony not constitute greater persecution than the examples of persecution you bring up today in the USA?
God, I’d love to be a questioner on this commission. I’d have a friggin field day.
Fergie
March 28th, 2012
And don’t forget Robert George writes frequent editorial opinions and sits on the Editorial Board of the Deseret News (the highly influential daily newspaper owned by the LDS Church).
He has been hyping stories of religious persecution for years.
jerry
March 31st, 2012
And none other than Ken Mehlman is raising funds for Boehner.
I know people sleep with their enemies, but I draw the line on helping the enemy slit my throat.
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